More than twenty years after the historic Chesapeake Bay Agreement set out a roadmap for a coordinated clean-up effort at state and federal levels, the region is struggling to follow it, scientists say.

Panelists speaking at a February 20 session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC emphasized the importance of an adaptive approach to restoration in the Chesapeake––which scientists call adaptive management, in which ideas and approaches can be tested, checked for success, and adjusted along the way. "We are headed in the right direction, we know where we want to go, but need to be more efficient and accountable in order to get there," says Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

And this modify-as-you-go approach to restoration should be "watershedwide," panelists say, including upland streams and rivers, not only the Bay and its living resources––such as crabs, oysters, and underwater grasses. "What happens every day in backyards and on street corners that are miles and miles from the Bay proper have huge impacts on Bay health," according to ecologist Margaret Palmer from the University of Maryland, College Park. "Restoration of the Bay will not occur unless we stem the loss of headwater streams and freshwater wetlands and restore non-tidal waters," Palmer says.

Palmer is working on the large-scale National River Restoration Science Synthesis Project, to inventory and evaluate ongoing stream and river restoration projects in the Chesapeake watershed. She analyzed existing written records and found that fewer than 5% of these projects have been evaluated for success after completion, a significantly lower percentage than other regions in her analysis. The panel also addressed the need for a watershedwide approach to limit nitrogen input to Chesapeake Bay––which causes the excessive growth of algae and leads to the depletion of oxygen in the bottom layers as it dies, falls to the bottom, and decomposes.

Agricultural fertilizer runoff plays a dominant role in contaminating the Bay with excess nitrogen and has long occupied center stage in restoration efforts. But emissions to the atmosphere from cars and stationary sources, deposited later on the landscape, may be more significant than previously thought, according to biogeochemist Robert Howarth from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Climate change will further compound the nitrogen problem in the Bay, Howarth reports. In the absence of management actions, nitrogen flux down the Susqhehanna River, the Bay’s largest tributary, could increase as much as 17% by 2030 and up to 65% by 2095 due to predicted warmer, wetter conditions, he finds.

So what approach can scientists, managers, and citizens take to reverse the Bay’s downward spiral?

"We must think across the boundaries that traditionally lead to disjointed, uncoordinated efforts in freshwater and coastal systems," says Jonathan Kramer, session organizer and director of the Maryland Sea Grant College, part of a network of 30 university-based programs that support innovative marine research and education.

"We have plotted a good course for restoration. What we need now is a method of course correction that encourages us to make adjustments along the way," Kramer says.

For photographers and scientists, lenses are lifesavers. They reflect and refract light, making possible the imaging systems that drive discovery through the microscope and preserve history through cameras.

But today's glass-based lenses are bulky and resist miniaturization. Next-generation technologies, such as ultrathin cameras or tiny microscopes, require...

Scientists from the University of Zurich have succeeded for the first time in tracking individual stem cells and their neuronal progeny over months within the intact adult brain. This study sheds light on how new neurons are produced throughout life.

The generation of new nerve cells was once thought to taper off at the end of embryonic development. However, recent research has shown that the adult brain...

Let’s say the armrest is broken in your vintage car. As things stand, you would need a lot of luck and persistence to find the right spare part. But in the world of Industrie 4.0 and production with batch sizes of one, you can simply scan the armrest and print it out. This is made possible by the first ever 3D scanner capable of working autonomously and in real time. The autonomous scanning system will be on display at the Hannover Messe Preview on February 6 and at the Hannover Messe proper from April 23 to 27, 2018 (Hall 6, Booth A30).

Part of the charm of vintage cars is that they stopped making them long ago, so it is special when you do see one out on the roads. If something breaks or...